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When is the Europa League group stage draw and who could Arsenal, Chelsea, Rangers, Celtic face?

Arsenal, Chelsea, Rangers and Celtic in draw on Friday

Friday 31 August 2018 12:54, UK

Unai Emery during a training session at London Colney on August 22, 2018
Image: Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger

Ahead of Friday's draw for the Europa League group stage, we run through the vital details for British clubs.

Arsenal and Chelsea secured their places in the group stages due to their league finishes while Celtic and Rangers advanced through qualifying rounds.

Here, we run through those complicated seeds and pots, and all the key dates for the Europa League group stage draw...

When is the draw?

On Friday August 31 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, with the ceremony scheduled to start at 12pm.

Unai Emery during a training session at London Colney on August 22, 2018
Image: Unai Emery replaced Arsene Wenger

Who is in the hat?

Automatically qualified: AC Milan, Akhisarspor, Anderlecht, Arsenal, Chelsea, Eintracht Frankfurt, Jablonec, Krasnodar, Lazio, Leverkusen, Marseille, Real Betis, Rennes, Sporting Lisbon, Villarreal, Vorskla, Zurich

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Teams qualified from Champions League qualifying: Fenerbahce, Slavia Prague, Spartak Moscow, Standard Liege, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, Dynamo Kiev, PAOK, Salzburg, Vidi

Team qualified from Europa League play-off round: AEK Larnaca, Apollon Limassol, Astana, Besiktas, Bordeaux, Celtic, F91 Dudelange, Genk, FC Copenhagen, Ludogorets, Malmo, Olympiakos, Qarabag, Rangers, Rapid Vienna, RB Leipzig, Rosenborg, Sarpsborg, Spartak Trnava, Zenit St Petersburg, Sevilla

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Draw make-up

* 17 teams qualify automatically

* 21 teams advance from the EL play-off round

* 6 teams defeated in UEFA Champions League play-off round

* 4 teams defeated in UEFA Champions League third qualifying round league path

How does the draw work?

The draw adjudicators will pick 48 teams from the hat and split them into 12 groups of four.

The teams are split into four different pots. Each group will include one team from each of the four pots.

Pot one will contain the top seeds and pot four the bottom seeds. The rankings to determine which pot each team go into are based on their club coefficient ranking.

The pots

Arsenal and Chelsea will be in pot one and won't face each other, while there is no chance of Rangers and Celtic being drawn together as clubs from the same country can't be drawn together until the knockout stages.

Maurizio Sarri admitted he does not yet consider Chelsea to be title contenders
Image: Maurizio Sarri will be looking to conquer Europe with Chelsea

Pot one also consists of Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, La Liga side Villarreal, Italian giants Lazio and AC Milan and Sporting Lisbon.

Celtic will be in pot two while Rangers will be in pot four, which means both sides could draw Arsenal or Chelsea in the group stages.

GRAPHIC
Image: Brendan Rodgers and Steven Gerrard

Key dates

The group stages get going on 20 September and the first stage of six matches lasts until mid-December.

  • Matchday 1: September 20
  • Matchday 2: October 4
  • Matchday 3: October 25
  • Matchday 4: November 8
  • Matchday 5: November 29
  • Matchday 6: December 13
  • Round of 16, first leg: March 7
  • Round of 16, second leg: March 14
  • Quarter-final, first leg: April 11
  • Quarter-final, second leg: April 18
  • Semi-final, first leg: May 2
  • Semi-final, second leg: May 9
  • Final: May 29